Festivities
by Kilerkki
Summary: Asuma would like to do many things before dying, especially if said things involve Kakashi or Kurenai or, even better, both together. AsuKakaKure, and a festival. [Oneshot]


Festivities

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_I offered kimi no vanilla an AsuKakaKure fic for her birthday. It was going to be dark, angsty, and, well, ANBU-centric. Then I went to Cedar Point, and Asuma started whining for cotton candy and carnies. What could I do but give in?_

_Characterizations are stolen from the marvelous RPG Scarlet Spiral, set within the ANBU organization three years after the Yondaime's Death. Eternal thanks to kimi no vanilla and iamzuul for their inspired characterizations of Kakashi and Asuma, for their graciousness in letting me play with them, and especially for iamzuul's help with plot and ideas. Bracelets and stuffed pugs for you, zuul! And green tea ice cream and a very happy (belated) birthday for Loren! _

-

Kakashi would cheerfully have died before saying anything. But Asuma would rather do many things before dying, especially if said things involved Kakashi or Kurenai or, even better, both together.

And Kurenai was the one who first noticed the sign along the road, five kilometers out of the lodging town. They'd completed a week-long mission in five days, without more damage than a scrape across Asuma's knuckles and a faint bruise along Kurenai's cheekbone. It was late afternoon, they weren't expected back in Konoha for two days, and, Kurenai pointed out, they could all use a good meal and a hot bath. And a drink.

"We could share," Asuma suggested, tapping a cigarette out of its package. He looked up with a sunny smile at the other two.

Kakashi looked wary. Kurenai looked thoughtful. "It'd be more expensive, seeing as it's festival week," she said. "But if we all chipped in…"

"I've got money," Kakashi said, and blushed.

Asuma watched the creeping red over the edges of the younger man's mask with interest. "We're decided, then?" he said, swinging off to the left fork in the road without waiting for the other two to agree. "Detour it is."

Kurenai caught up in a few steps, running her hands through her lank hair as if she were already thinking of the waiting bath. Asuma was thinking of it, too. Kurenai in a bath…and Kakashi needed one too, of course; after five days in the woods they all did…

Even if he had to pay for the bath himself, Asuma decided, this would be worth it.

With the town so full of brightly-clad festival-goers, it took a little time to find an inn that would suit both their wallets and Kurenai and Kakashi's fastidiousness. But for shinobi used to searching, it wasn't all that hard, and within an hour of their arrival they'd taken possession of a small tatami room in a quiet inn some distance from the marketplace. The inn was in a less-fashionable district, and it was a little shabby, but it was clean and cheap and welcoming, and there was an onsen attached.

The locks on the Western-style door outside the genkan, the high narrow window overlooking a garden, and the painted screen in the corner seemed to interest Kakashi much more than the clean faded yukata already laid out on the three futon. But Kurenai had her priorities straight, Asuma noted. She left Kakashi to his prowling and dropped her pack at the foot of one of the futon, the one nearest the window with a yukata in what a woman might have labeled blushing rose. Asuma called it pink.

That left either the middle (pale green) or the futon nearest the door (blue) for Asuma. Out of politeness, and a well-concealed loathing for spring green, he shucked his pack at the head of the blue one. "Dinner first, or bath?" he asked.

"Bath," Kurenai said firmly, tucking her wallet into her shirt and folding the pink yukata over her arm. She finger-combed her hair back over her shoulders, tilting her head back, half-closing her brilliant red eyes. Her throat was slim, pale, surprisingly vulnerable. Rather like Kakashi's would look, unmasked.

"You go ahead," Kakashi murmured, testing the catch of the window. "I'll come later."

He was going to weasel out of it; anyone with the slightest acquaintance with the Hatake kid could have guessed that. But Asuma figured he had a little more than just a slight acquaintance, and when you knew what you were looking for, it was pretty plain to see that Kakashi _wanted _to come—just figured he shouldn't.

Kurenai was hesitated, reaching out with her hand on the frame of the sliding door. Asuma caught her eye and tilted his head toward their diffident third. "I'll help him secure the room," he said. "We'll meet you there."

It was a shame they wouldn't make it to the hot spring first to watch Kurenai come in, but faced with the prospect of Kakashi not coming at all, Asuma was willing to make a few small sacrifices.

-

Given that it was the height of festival week, Kurenai was a little surprised this ryokan and its attached onsen weren't more crowded. As she wound her dripping hair up into a knot at the back of her head and stepped from the showers into the steaming waters of the hotspring, she noticed only an elderly couple soaking at the other end of the pool. The man was staring openly and appreciatively; the woman looked ready to haul him out by his ear. Kurenai smiled gently at them, and within thirty seconds she had the hot spring to herself.

Well, this inn _was _in one of the older quarters, less-fashionable and set far enough away from the main festival that she couldn't even hear the hum of excitement that had been audible a kilometer out of town. And it was barely evening; the festival was still going strong on the streets. Most people were probably out celebrating and gorging themselves on festival foods, not relaxing and contemplating tea (or better yet, sake) and bed.

Asuma and Kakashi weren't exactly most people. But they weren't exactly relaxing, either.

They came from the men's side, dropping their towels on the smooth rock side of the hotspring and sliding quickly into the steaming water. Kakashi looked sullen, a little embarrassed, and oddly young without his mask. Asuma just looked annoyed.

"What's the point in staying here and not going?" he demanded as Kakashi settled low in the water, mulishly sinking up to his cheekbones. "You might as well be back in Konoha looking for another mission."

"Missions don't generally imply rest," Kurenai pointed out. Asuma shot her an irritated glance.

"This one does. We've got tonight at least, and the inn doesn't serve dinner. We have to go out anyway."

"That doesn't mean we have to go to the festival," Kakashi argued, hoisting himself up a little straighter. "There's a restaurant down the street."

Asuma rolled his eyes. "We came here _because _of the festival, didn't we? Something to get that stick out of—"

"We're on a mission," Kakashi said tightly. "We shouldn't have stopped at all."

"You were fine with it at first," Asuma muttered.

"I was fine with it when it was a bath and a meal and bed. You said nothing about making a fool of yourself on the street—"

They would go on bickering forever like this if Kurenai didn't stop them; they always did. She broke in. "I would like to go."

Silence, undercut by the lapping of water against stone. Asuma blinked at her as if he'd almost forgotten she was there. Kakashi chewed his lip.

"All right," he said, grudgingly.

Asuma sighed and flicked a little water at Kakashi's hair. But his eyes met Kurenai's, and he grinned.

_Aiding and abetting the enemy, _Kurenai thought, and had to smile back.

With the decision made, they soaked only a little longer, making a few efforts at a slightly stilted conversation that inevitably degenerated into bantering. Of course Asuma leered when Kurenai stood to leave, but since his default expressions seemed to be either a frown or a leer, she could pretend not to pay it much mind. He leered at Kakashi too, anyway, so maybe she wasn't the only one confused.

By the time Kurenai's stomach was beginning to gnaw at her backbone, they were out of the onsen, dried and dressed again in the clean faded yukata, and heading onto the street. A vigorous toweling had left Kurenai's hair very curly but only slightly damp, and she finger-combed it smooth again as they left the inn and turned right, heading back for the festival. Dusk was falling; Asuma's cigarette glowed bright as he lit it and took the first deep breath, and the first blooming fireworks high in the sky echoed the cigarette's flare.

They turned another corner, and suddenly there were children dancing at their feet and a stick of pink cotton candy thrust into Asuma's hand. Kakashi took a quick light step back, ready to bolt.

"It's all right," Kurenai said quickly, grabbing his hand. "It's just in fun."

"That looks toxic," Kakashi said, eyeing the pink froth of sugar as if it were going to jump up and bite someone. "If you kill yourself with that, Asuma, I'm not explaining it."

But he didn't pull away from Kurenai's hand, and when Asuma took her other elbow to steer her further into the crowd, Kakashi followed.

-

Even if the pink thing wasn't toxic, Kakashi wasn't trying it. It was sugar, Kurenai said, and he wasn't fond of sweet things. But there was a takoyaki stand a little ways down the road, and then a stall selling fried dough powdered with sugar and cinnamon, and then stalls selling everything ranging from yakitori and dango to batter-dipped sausages and ice cream. By the time they'd made it half-way down the street, he was juggling a skewer of yakitori and a handful of anko buns; Kurenai had yakitori and takoyaki, and Asuma had persuaded her to try a few bites of the fried sugary dough. Asuma himself, not content with what he called an "elephant ear" or with his spun sugar, bought a "corn dog" and "fries" and then a "funnel cake," which looked something like the elephant ear, but with holes in the middle.

He offered to share the rest of his spoils. Kurenai accepted a little warily. Kakashi declined on principle and tried not to regret it as he watched Kurenai's eyes widen with surprise and pleasure. The stuff _smelled _good, rich and savory and warm, but that didn't mean it would taste good. Or even that he should take Asuma up on his offer if it did.

So he was still hungry, and trying to ignore the two behind him who'd just found a stall selling ice cream, when he wandered over to another stall that didn't appear to have anything to do with food. The man behind the counter judged him with a shrewd eye, spinning a large dark-blue ring around his finger. "Up for a game o' skill, lad?" he asked. "Win a fancy prize?"

"Not really," Kakashi murmured, and turned to move away.

"Pretty girls like prizes," the carnie persisted. "Like men who can win 'em, too." He snapped the ring still between two fingers, then turned and flipped it towards a row of square blocks standing on a table within the stall. The ring jiggled around one of the blocks, then settled down. "Do that once out of three times, and you're a winner," the man promised. "Only ten ryou a try!"

Kakashi looked back in spite of himself, frowning. The man was obviously a con artist; the rings were barely large enough to fit around the square blocks, and if not thrown from the perfect angle they wouldn't fit at all. And if the man had been judging by Kakashi's slender build and the left eye he'd covered with a wrap of bandage, he must have thought he'd found an easy target.

"Saw you with that dark-haired girl," the carnie said, pressing on as he saw his target hesitating. "Bet she'd like a prize." He winked obscenely. "Bet you'd like the prize _she'd _give you, too."

Kakashi tensed. There was a sudden presence at his back: Asuma, jostling just close enough to slip a handful of cash into Kakashi's palm. "Take him down," Asuma murmured, and was gone again, drawing Kurenai to the other side of the street. Kakashi glanced back and saw them watching him, Asuma's face blank around the glowing cherry of his cigarette, Kurenai's lips barely curving in a faint hidden little smile. Asuma had one ice cream cone, Kurenai two.

"Three tries," Kakashi said slowly. "What's the prize if I win?"

"Take your pick," the man said, gesturing up at the rows of bright-furred stuffed animals hanging from the ceiling and walls of his little stall. Most were almost offensive, blue monkeys and pink dolphins and yellow toads. But in the corner, near the top, there was a little brown dog—a pug. Watching it, Kakashi laid down his money.

The money disappeared within the carnie's clothing as quickly as if he were a ninja himself, and he held out three of the blue rings in exchange. They were heavy, Kakashi found, weighing them in his palm, almost perfectly the weight of a steel shuriken and just a little larger in diameter than his palm. He held two in his right hand and bounced the third once in his left palm, judgingly.

Then he tossed it, wide. The ring hit the last block, skimmed around its rim, and fell off the table. The carnie's lips twitched in a momentary smirk. Kakashi glanced towards him.

"Can I keep the rings too, if I make it?"

"Sure," the man said, shrugging. "But you'll have to try harder than that, if you want your girl happy with you."

"Not really," Kakashi said again, and threw the last two at the same time, left-handed and blind-sided, without looking at the table.

The carnie's sharp breath was enough to tell him they'd hit true. "Shinobi," the man accused.

Kakashi hitched his shoulder up in a non-committal shrug. "The pug," he said. "And the rings."

Grudgingly, the man unhooked the stuffed dog from the wall and passed it over along with two of the heavy blue rings. Kakashi took them without a word and re-crossed the street to where Asuma and Kurenai were waiting. Asuma was grinning, finishing off the last of his ice cream in two bites. "Hey, good throwing there," he teased. "We got a bit worried with the first one."

"Put him off his guard," Kakashi murmured, hefting his prizes. "He was careless. Threw it first, and let me see the right angle." He ran his palm briefly over the short silky fur of the stuffed dog's head, then held it out to Kurenai, awkwardly. "Do you want it?"

Kurenai's brilliant crimson eyes hooded for a moment in a slow, surprised blink. Then she smiled, a smile more real than he'd seen from her all that week. "Thank you, Kakashi," she said warmly, handing one whole ice cream to Asuma and keeping the other half-eaten one. She took the dog and cradled it against her breast, her face unexpectedly soft. "That's—very kind of you."

Asuma looked like he wasn't sure whether to snigger or go looking for a carnie of his own. He settled for thrusting the uneaten ice cream at Kakashi. "It's green tea. Not too sweet. You'd better eat it quick, it's melting."

Kakashi hesitated. Then he took the ice cream cone, leaving the rings in Asuma's hand instead. "Thanks," he said uncomfortably.

"What're these for?" Asuma countered, staring at the rings. He dropped one around his index finger and began to twirl it slowly.

Feeling suddenly foolish, Kakashi shrugged and licked his ice cream. "I don't know," he said. "Thought you might like them. You can go try for another prize if you want."

Asuma shook his head. He'd slipped one of the rings onto his wrist, like a thick blue bracelet. "I'll figure out something to do with them," he said. His lips quirked suddenly in a private laugh, and he slid the other onto his other wrist. "Two of them," he said, and he looked up at Kakashi eating his ice cream and Kurenai still smiling at her dog, and he grinned. "I'll figure out something."


End file.
